Access-control equipment and item-dispensing systems including such equipment

ABSTRACT

A money-dispensing system is operative to dispense money in response to a bank customer&#39;&#39;s embossed credit card and keyedentry of his personal identification number, only if this number accords with the customer&#39;&#39;s account number as read from an accounting record impressed from the card. Accord is checked at the bank&#39;&#39;s central computer and approval for dispensing is given by an encyphered signal individually generated there using the account number and transmitted back to the dispensing terminal, recognition of the encyphered signal, required for operation of the dispenser, being effected by separate programmed-generation of it at the terminal.

X QR 3 9 11 11 2 97 Q50 e United St: [151 3,641,497 Constable Feb. 8, 1972 [54] ACCESS-CONTROL EQUIPMENT AND 3,061,143 10/1962 Simjian ..235/61.7 B ITEM-DISPENSING SYSTEMS 3,308,439 3/ 1967 Tink et al.. ..340/ 172.5 INCLUDING SUCH E UIPMENT 3,401,830 9/1968 Mathews... ....235/6l.7 B Q 3,445,633 5/1969 Ratner ....235/6l.7 B [72] Inventor: Geoffrey Ernest Patrick Constable, Chel- 3,457,391 7/1969 Yamamoto... ..235/6l.6 tenham, England 3,513,298 5/ 1970 Riddle et al ..340/149 X [73] Assignee: 31,112 lidustriss Limited, Cricklewood, Primary Emminer Dona1dJ'YuSko Elan AttorneyWilliam 1). Hall, Elliott 1. Pollock, Fred c. Philpitt, [22] Filed: Aug. 19, 1969 George Vande Sande, Charles F. Steininger and Robert R.

P dd [21] Appl. No.: 851,186 n y ABSTRACT [30] Foreign Application Priority Dam A money-dispensing system is operative to dispense money in Aug. 30, 1968 Great Britain ..41424/68 resPonse a bank cusmmers emlmsed Card and keyed-entry of his personal identification number, only if this [52 vs. C]. ..340/149 A 235/6l.7 B "umber acm'ds the cuswmer's "umber as read [51] Int Cl l E04,! 9/00 606k 7/00 from an accounting record impressed from the card. Accord is 58 Field ofSearch ..340/149 152- 235/616 619 checked at the banks central and 233/61 61 7 6 dispensing is given by an encyphered signal individually generated there using the account number and transmitted back to the dispensing terminal, recognition of the en- [56] References cued cyphered signal, required for operation of the dispenser, being UNITED STATES PATENTS effected by separate programmed-generation of it at the terminal. 3,184,714 5/1965 Brown, Jr. et a1 ..340/149 3,039,582 6/1962 Simjian ..235/61.7 B 14 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures FROM I9 22 TIMER FROM 45 TIMER 25 ENTER PERSONAL-IDENTIFICATION NUMBER DISPENSER GATING E NCYPHERING DATA LINK 56 CENTRE 59 (9.3)

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ACCESS-CONTROL EQUIPMENT AND ITEM- DISPENSING SYSTEMS INCLUDING SUCH EQUIPMENT This invention relates to access-control equipment and item-dispensing systems including such equipment.

The invention is especially concerned with access-control equipment of the kind that selectively enables access to a facility, under control of an information-bearing token. The token, for example, may be in the form of a punched or embossed card, and in these circumstances each person authorized to make use of the facility'may be issued with a card of this form punched or embossed with information individual to that person, for presentation to the equipment when access is required.

According to the present invention access-control equipment for selectively enabling access to a facility, comprises first means for receiving an information-bearing token presented to the equipment, second means for providing from the received token a record of information borne thereby, third means for reading from said record part at least of the recorded information, and fourth means that is operable in dependence upon the information read from said record to enable access to said facility.

The information from the token may be recorded as a printed record on, for example, paper tape. Where this information is borne in the form of embossings of the token then the record may be provided as a transfer by impression from such embossings, and the said second means may then include means for inking the impression. In particular in this latter respect-the equipment may include means for storing bulk record material, for example paper tape, that is capable of receiving and retaining inked impressions, and feed means responsive to each occasion on which said first means receives an information-bearing token for feeding a discrete element of the stored record material through said second means to receive the said inked impression of the received token, successive elements of the stored record material being fed through said second means on successive occasions of tokenreception so as to provide discrete records in respect of those occasions.

The equipment according to the invention is of especial advantage in those circumstances where it is essential to keep an accurate record of information read from the token, on each occasion of access to the relevant facility (for example, for accounting and auditing purposes). By arranging that access is enabled in dependence upon the information as read from the record, rather than from the token itself, it is ensured that operation of the equipment to enable access is dependent upon successful recording of the information as well as upon the information itself.

The access-control equipment may be arranged to enable selectively, access to any form of facility, for example, entry to a restricted area, use of a service, or withdrawal of an item or product (in predetermined or selected quantity). One particular application of the equipment is in the field of banking where a money-dispensing system is provided for use by customers at all times, the customers being issued with individual coded-tokens for presentation to the system when withdrawal of money is required. The equipment of the present invention in this latter connection may be arranged to control a money dispenser so that money (for example, in bank note form) is dispensed to the customer in response to each valid request for withdrawal, a valid request in this context involving, at least, presentation to the equipment of an authentic token. It is clearly necessary in this application of the equipment to ensure that there is an accurate record of each transaction, and this is especially so in the circumstances in which the equipment does not act to retain the token in exchange for the withdrawn money. The requirement, however, is readily met with equipment according to the present invention, since this can be used to ensure to a very substantial extent that withdrawal of money can only take place following the making of an accurate record of relevant information relating to the transaction.

The equipment may include means that is operable manually for entering into the equipment a plural-character word, the particular word entered being dependent upon manual selection, and in these circumstances it may be arranged that the said fourth means is operated to enable access only in the event that there is a predetermined correspon dence between the information read from the record by said third means and the word entered into the equipment manually. The information borne by the token and recorded therefrom by said second means may, for example, involve an encoded plural-digit number individual to the person to whom the token has been issued, and in these circumstances said predetermined correspondence may be arranged to exist, and access to said facility may be enabled, only if there is a predetermined correspondence between a plural-digit number he enters manually, and the encoded number as read from the record.

A token-transport arrangement may be provided for transporting any token received at an entrance to the access-control equipment, to said second means, and in these circumstances the equipment may include detector means positioned at a point along the path of the token for detecting as the token passes that point whether it has some predetermined characteristic, for example a predetermined form of magnetic recording, indicative of its authenticity. It may be arranged that operation of said fourth means to enable access is inhibited in the event that the said characteristic is not detected. Additionally, it may be arranged that the token-transport arrangement is selectively operable to return through said entrance any token transported to said second means, and such operation may then be inhibited in the event that said predetermined characteristic is not detected by the detector means.

According to a feature of the present invention an itemdispensing system comprises entry means for receiving an information-bearing token presented to the system, recording means for providing from the received token a record ofinformation borne thereby, record-reading means for reading from said record part at least of the recorded information, manually operable means for entering a number into the system, the particular number entered being dependent upon manual selection, item-dispensing means that is selectively operable to dispense from a reserve of items at least one such item upon each operation of the item-dispensing means, and comparison means for comparing a number dependent upon the information read from said record with the number entered into the system, said comparison means includingmeans for operating said item-dispensing means to dispense at least one of said items as aforesaid in dependence upon whether a predetermined correspondence exists between the compared numbers.

Additionally, an item-dispensing system according to a further feature of the present invention, may involve two spaced stations interconnected by a data link. In these circum stances a first of the two stations may include means for receiving an information-bearing token presented to the system and means arranged to transmit to the second station via the data link infonnation read from a record made from the token. The second station on the other hand may include comparison means responsive to the transmitted information to detect whether there is a predetermined correspondence between this information and a number also transmitted from the first station. The second station may then transmit back to the first station a signal signifying approval of operation of item-dispensing means at the first station, only in the event that the predetermined correspondence is detected by the comparison means.

An item-dispensing system in accordance with the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows the form of an information-bearing token used with the item-dispensing system;

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of part of the itemdispensing system used for receiving and selectively admitting coded tokens to the system;

FIG. 3 is a generalized schematic representation of electronic circuits forming part of the item-dispensing system and used in conjunction with the arrangement of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4 and illustrate for the purposes of explaining the operation of encyphering equipment forming part of the system, alternative circuit interconnections of a shift register; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic representation of encyphering equipment as used in the arrangement of FIG. 2.

The system to be described is for use in dispensing packets of banknotes, one at a time, to customers of a bank, and is for use after, as well as during, normal banking hours. The customers authorized to use the system are each issued with a coded token in the form of a plastics card that may be used generally as a credit card. Each card bears a date of expiry and numerical information identifying the account of the customer to whom the card has been issued, and this information, as well as being embossed directly on the card, is embossed thereon in coded form. The customer is informed of a secret, personal identification number that is individual to his account but cannot be deduced from the card itself. When the customer wishes to withdraw a packet of banknotes, he simply presents his card to a card-reception unit of the system at a branch of the bank, and operates a set of i0 pushbuttons in accordance with his personal identification number. The system records the information from the card for accounting and auditing purposes, and in return automatically dispenses to the customer one packet of banknotes. The packet ofbanknotes is dispensed to the customer from a dispenser that is individually associated with the card-reception unit and holds a supply of such packets, the dispenser being released to dispense the packet only after the validity of the transaction has been checked. In this respect the system checks the authenticity of the card, and then that the number entered manually by the customer is the number appropriate to the account identified by the card, that the card is still in force, and that the customers account can accommodate the withdrawal. These latter checks are carried out at a central station or computer center that is common to a series of terminals that each involve a card-reception unit and associated dispenser; the terminals may readily be located at different, widely spaced branches of the bank.

Information relating to the status of account of each bank customer issued with a card, is stored at the computer center together with the secret personal identification numbers ap- 'propriate to these accounts. Communication between the computer center and the card-reception units at the different terminals is made by means-of binary coded signals transmitted via a conventional form of data link. Generally speaking the encoding of the signals transmitted over the data link in respect of any transaction is conventional, there being special steps taken for security purposes to encypher one signal only, namely, a signal that is transmitted from the computer center to the relevant terminal in order to signify approval of release of the dispenser to dispense a packet of banknotes.

When a customer at any terminal is dispensed a packet of banknotes, his account as recorded at the computer center is debited with the amount of the withdrawal. The card-reception unit at the terminal then acts to return the card to the customer for further use as desired. The card used is not returned (and no dispensing of course takes place), however, in the event that it is not authentic, or has expired or is otherwise invalid; in each of these circumstances the card is retained within the card-reception unit and is then recoverable by bank officials only. The form of authentic card issued to bank customers is shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 1, each card is formed by a rectangular substrate 1 of opaque plastics material that is shielded on either face by transparent vinyl film. The card, which carries a magnetic coating 2 beneath printing and other artwork on its obverse face (shown in FIG. 1), is embossed with the customer's name and account number and with the date ofexpiry of the card. The account number and date of expiry are also encoded on the card using bar-characters 3 that are embossed on the substrate 1 in a two-out-of-frve positional code. these characters together with the characters of the other embossings all protruding from the obverse face of the card. Two small dark markings 4 are provided at spaced intervals from one another across the width of thecard at a designated leading end 5, these like the magnetic coating 2, being provided for security purposes.

The magnetic coating 2 on the card involves two magnetic oxides of highand low-coercivity respectively, the magnetic oxides being provided either in separate layers, with the layer of high-coercivity material extending in a band across the width of the substrate 1 beneath the other layer, or as an admixture of the two materials. A series of pulses is recorded in the high-coercivity material, the individual pulse recordings being made at positions within the coating 2 spaced from one another lengthwise of the card. For security purposes, the lowcoercivity material carries a magnetic recording that extends over substantially the whole area of the coating 2 and serves to provide noise masking the pulse recordings from easy detectron.

The authenticity of each card presented to the system is checked, firstly by detecting whether the card has appropriately located markings 4, and then by detecting whether it carries an appropriate series of pulse recordings in the coating 2. These checks are performed by the card-reception unit represented in H0. 2.

Referring to FIG. 2, the card-reception unit has a facia 10 that is mounted in an external wall of the bank, and has a readily accessible mouth 11 for receiving the customer's card. The mouth 11 within the unit converges to a throat portion 12 that is normally blocked at its far end by a movable shutter I3. An electrical solenoid 14 controls the shutter 13, the solenoid 14 when energized moving the shutter 13 upwardly against a spring-bias to bring a gate aperture 15 through the shutter 13, into alignment with the throat portion 12. This opens the way for the card to pass through the portion 12 into a guideway I6 that leads to a card-reading cassette 17. The shutter 13 remains in this open position only so long as the solenoid I4 is energized, and is otherwise returned and held by the spring bias in the closed position in which the way into the guideway 16 is completely blocked.

The customer presents his card to the card-reception unit by inserting the end 5 into the exposed mouth 11 with the coating 2 uppermost. The end 5 is inserted through the mouth I I into the throat portion 12 to abut the closed shutter I}. In this position of the card the set of markings 4 lie beneath lamps 18 (of which only one is shown) that are continuously energized to direct light downwardly across the throat portion 12 for reflection back to individual photoelectric cells 19. The

photoelectric cells 19 (of which only one is shown) are disposed at spaced intervals from one another across the width of the throat portion 12, and, until a card is inserted in the throat portion 12, each cell 19 receives light from its associated lamp l8 and in response thereto supplies an electric signal to an electrical gating unit 20.

The unit 20 is responsive only to the condition in which signals are supplied by a certain combination of the photoelectric cells 19 and not by the remainder. This condition exists only when a card with the corresponding number of appropriately located markings 4 is presented to the card-reception unit with the end 5 leading and with the coating 2 uppermost, reflection of light to those of the cells 19 that are in register with the markings 4 being interrupted, and to the remainder continuing by virtue of the absence of markings 4 elsewhere across the width. Response of the gating unit 20 to this condition is, however, effective to produce an output signal from the unit 20 only in the circumstances in which an enabling signal is supplied to the unit 20 from the dispenser 21 of the terminal. The dispenser 21 supplies the enabling signal to the unit 20 only so long as there is still a packet of banknotes available therein. If no enabling signal is supplied from the dispenser 21, there is no output signal from the unit 20, and an EMPTY sign (not shown) on the facia 10 of the cardreception unit is illuminated. The EMPTY sign is illuminated (by means not shown) throughout any period for which the enabling signal is not supplied by the dispenser 21, so as to warn customers that the system is not operative. The absence of the enabling signal from the dispenser 21 has the effect of inhibiting operation of the whole system, since the system is then incapable of responding even when presented with an authentic card.

When there is response of the unit in the presence of the enabling signal from the dispenser 21, the output signal supplied by the unit 20 is passed to switch ON a switch unit 22 that controls the supply of electrical energization current to the solenoid 14. The output signal is also supplied to switch ON a switch unit 23, and to start operation of two timers 24 and 25. The switch unit 23 controls the supply of electrical energization current to a reversible electric motor 26 that drives three card transport rollers 27 to 29 that project into the guideway 16 at spaced intervals therealong. The switching ON of the units 22 and 23 serves to energize both the solenoid l4 and the motor 26, with the result that the shutter 13 moves upwardly to admit the card through the gate aperture 15 into the guideway 16, and the rollers 27 to 29 rotate in their forward senses indicated by the arrows F. The card admitted through the gate aperture 15 is fed by the customer into the guideway 16 until the leading end 5 reaches the rotating roller 27. An idling roller 27' is urged resiliently and downwardly into contact with the roller 27 so that when the end 5 reaches the roller 27 the card is drawn lengthwise completely into the card-reception unit. The card is drawn in between the rollers 27 and 27 to be fed along the guideway 16 towards the rotating roller 28. The end 5 eventually enters between the roller 28 and an associated pinch roller 28 at the entrance to the reading cassette 17. The card is accordingly drawn lengthwise from the rollers 27 and 27 and is passed further on along the guideway 16 towards the rotating roller 29 positioned at the far end of the cassette 17.

The card, in its passage along the guideway 16 from the roller 27 to the roller 28, passes successively beneath a magnetic recording head 30 and a magnetic reading head 31 that both project into the guideway 16. The head 30 is energized with alternating current that is supplied from a source 32 to erase the noise which in an authentic card is recorded over the pulse recordings in the coating 2. The frequency and amplitude of this alternating current are so chosen that the magnetic flux produced by the head 30 is well capable of erasing the noise recorded in the low-coercivity material, but is nonetheless insufficient to affect the pulse recordings recorded in the high-coercivity material.

The erasure of the noise masking the pulse recordings enables these recordings to be read in turn from the coating 2 by the head 31 as the card is fed lengthwise from the rollers 27 and 27. The sensed pulse recordings give rise to a series of pulse signals which are passed from the head 31 to be counted by a code-recognition unit 33. The unit 33 detects whether the number of pulse signals counted is the same as the number of pulse recordings provided on each authentic card, and then only if it is, provides on a lead 34 an output signal indicative of this fact. This output signal, the existence of which is an essential for release of the dispenser 21 to dispense a packet of banknotes, persists after the card has passed on to the roller 28 and until the unit 33 is eventually reset.

The card in being driven by the rollers 27 and 27 to the roller 28 actuates a microswitch and this serves to energize a solenoid that acts via an operating fork (the microswitch, solenoid and fork are not shown) to lower the pinch roller 28 downwardly as the end 5 of the card reaches the roller 28 at the entrance to the cassette 17. The roller 28 is in this way pressed downwardly on to an inked (Mylar) ribbon 35 that is fed from a supply spool 36 to pass between the roller 28 and a paper tape 37. The tape 37 which is fed within the cassette 17 from a supply spool 38, is pressed under the ribbon 35 against the obverse face of the card in the guideway 16. As the card is drawn lengthwise through the rollers 28 and 28' with the ribbon 35 and tape 37, so the tape 37 is imprinted in ink with the embossings of the card. The length of ribbon 35 passed is taken up by a sprung am 39 the pivoting of which operates a ratchet 40 to cause a very small fraction of this length to be wound on a takeup spool 41, the remainder returning to the spool 36 for use again, when the roller 28' is subsequently lifted (as referred to later). The paper tape 37 imprinted with the embossings of the card, on the other hand, passes out from the cassette 17 via a photoelectric reader 42 that reads from the tape 37 the imprint made by the bar-characters 3 and supplies signals in accordance with the encoded account number and expiry date to a store 43.

The leading end 5 of the card driven from between the rollers 28 and 28, enters between the rotating roller 29 and an associated idling roller 29' that is urged downwardly and resiliently onto the roller 29. On passing from between the rollers 29 and 29' the end 5 actuates a microswitch 44 and thereby causes an electric signal to be supplied to switch OFF the unit 22 and to terminate operation of the timer 24. The switching OFF of the unit 22 breaks the supply of energization current to the solenoid 14 with the result that the shutter 13 closes. The timer 24 is arranged to supply a signal to the unit 22 to have the same effect as this, in the event that a preset period of operation of the timer 24 expires before receipt of the signal from the microswitch 44. In this latter respect, the timer 2 is preset to run for a period adequate to allow the card to be transported along the guideway 16 into the card-reading cassette 17. Operation of the timer 24 to run for this period is started, as referred to above, by the output signal from the gating unit 20 immediately preceding admission of the card to the guideway 16. If within this period there is no signal from the microswitch 44 (that is to say, if there is no signal to signify that the card has fully entered the cassette 17), then the timer 24 supplies an output signal that has the effect of inhibiting further operation of the system. This output signal from the timer 24, as well as being supplied to the unit 22 to result in closure of the shutter 13, is supplied to switch OFF the unit 23 and thereby break energization of the motor 26. The operation of the timer 24 to produce this output signal is inhibited however, when in the normal course of events there is actuation of the microswitch 44 before expiry of the preset period.

The signal supplied to the timer 24 and unit 22 upon actuation of the microswitch 44 is supplied to break drive from the motor 26 to the rollers 27 to 29, so that once the microswitch 44 is actuated, drive to the card ceases. The card is restrained from movement in these circumstances by virtue of the pressure of the rollers 28 and 29 holding it against the stationary rollers 28 and 29. 7

Operation of the timer 25, started in response to the output signal of the gating unit 20, causes illumination of a second sign of the facia 10. The sign signifies ENTER PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION NUMBER, and illumination of this directs the customer toenter his appropriate personal identification number using a set of 10 pushbuttons 45 (only two of which are shown) mounted in four rows on the facia 10. The personal identification number is in each case a plural-character word constituting a decimal number of six digits. The 10 pushbuttons 45 are accordingly numbered with the 10 decimal digits 0 to 9 respectively, the six digits of the number being entered in order operating one pushbutton 45 at a time. The sixdigit number, or word, entered in this way is stored in the store 43 and results in application of a signal to terminate operation of the timer 25. Termination of this operation causes illumination of the second sign to be extinguished and starts operation of a timer 46 to illuminate a third sign on the facia 10, signifying WAIT. In addition, the information that is stored in the store 43 and relates to the customers account number and card expiry date read from the card via the tape 37, is now transmitted to the computer center shown in FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 3, the information from the store 43 is transmitted to the computer center together with digital representations of the signal appearing on the lead 34 and the identification number of the money-dispensing terminal involved. The information relating to the expiry date is checked in a check unit 50 at the computer center to ensure that the card is still in force, whereas the other transmitted information is recorded in a recording unit 51 for accounting and securitychecking purposes. The account number is also used at the computer center to address two storage units, one a main, random access storage unit 52 that stores the personal identification numbers associated with the respective account numbers and details of the status of each account, and the other a socalled hot-card storage-unit 53 that stores the account numbers of customer's cards that are no longer valid (for example, cards that have been lost or stolen). The addressing of the main storage unit 52 by the account number reveals the status of the account and the six-digit personal identification number that is to be entered by the customer using the card. The number actually entered by the customer, as stored by the store 43 (FIG. 2), is transmitted to the computer center together with a l6-digit binary cypher that is derived at the terminal by an encyphering unit 55 (P16. 2), the entered number being supplied to the storage unit 52 and the cypher to a central encyphering unit 54. In the storage unit 52 the entered personal identification number is compared for equality with the personal identification number revealed by the account number identified from the terminal. 1f equality exists and the status of the account can accommodate withdrawal, a signal to this effect is passed from the unit 52 to the unit 54. (It may be useful to transmit back to the terminal from the unit 54 signals for use in giving the customer an indication of the status of his account; in particular it may be arranged that a sign on the facia l signifying ACCOUNT LEVEL LOW is illuminated in the event that the status of the account can accommodate only a few further transactions.)

The encyphering unit 54 transmits to the terminal a signal signifying approval of the dispensing operation, only in response to the signal from the storage unit 52 and confirmation from the check carried out by the unit 50 that the card at the terminal is still in force. This approval signal is transmitted to the terminal in a form determined by the cypher received from the unit 55, and at the terminal is recognized by the unit 55. When recognized by the unit 55 the approval signal causes the application of a dispense signal to a gating unit 56 (FIG. 2) that receives the signal on the lead 34. The dispense signal at the terminal is passed oh from the unit 56 to the dispenser 21 only in the event that the signal on the lead 34 signifies that the card has satisfied the magnetic check performed using the heads 30 and 31. The dispenser 21 dispenses one packet of banknotes to the customer on reception of the dispense signal and transmits a signal signifying this to the storage unit 52 at the computer center for use in debiting the customer's account. At the same time the dispenser 21 supplies a signal to terminate operation of the timer 46 and thereby extinguish the WAIT sign, and to start operation of a further timer 57.

The timer 57 after running for a few seconds, acts to cause reenergization of the solenoid 14 by switching ON the unit 22, and reengagement of the drive from the motor 26 to the rollers 27 to 29. Drive to the rollers 27 to 29 is reengaged in the reverse sense so that the card is returned along the guideway 16 to pass through the reopened shutter 13; during this reverse movement of the card the roller 28 is lifted away from the roller 28 so that no movement or imprinting of the paper tape 37 takes place (drive pressure is maintained on the card as it passe over the roller 28 at this time by small rollers on either side of the pinch roller 28). A further sign on the facia is at this time illuminated to signify REMOVE CARD to the customer. The full operating period of the timer 57 is such as to give the customer adequate time to remove the returned card from the mouth 11 (it may be readily arranged, however, that the period continues to run until there is in fact removal of the returned card). At the end of this full period the sign REMOVE CARD is extinguished and a signal is passed from the-timer 57 to switch OFF both units 22 and 23 so that energization of both the solenoid 14 and motor 26 ceases. The

card-reception unit, and the terminal equipment as a whole, is now reset in readiness for presentation of the same or another card to the mouth 11.

It has been assumed above that the approval signal is received by the cash-dispensing terminal. No such signal is sent from the computer center in the event of one or more of the circumstances in which (a) correspondence with the personal identification number stored against the account number in the unit 52 is not detected, (b) the status of the account as recorded in the unit 52 cannot accommodate a withdrawal, and (c) the unit 50 detects that the card at the terminal is no longer in force. In either of circumstances (a) and (b) the timer 46 runs for its full period; at the end of this period the sign WAlT is extinguished and the timer 57 is operated to return the card to the customer and illuminate the sign REMOVE CARD, in the same manner as described above. Another sign on the facia 10 is in this case illuminated with the sign REMOVE CARD, to signify NO DEBIT, and an electromagnetically operated hammer 58, adjacent the photoelectric reader 42, is energized to make an imprint on the paper tape 37 and thereby signify against the record of the card that the dispenser 21 has not been operated.

ln circumstance (c), as with circumstances (a) and (b), no approval' signal is transmitted to the terminal, but in this case a signal is transmitted from the check unit 50 to a timer 59 at the terminal. The same signal is transmitted from the computer center to set the timer 59 in operation in the event that the account number transmitted to the computer center corresponds to one of the numbers stored in the hot card storage unit 53. The timer 59 is also set in operation from within the terminal itself, in the event that the signal condition of the lead 34 indicates that the card has not satisfied the magnetic check performed using the heads 30 and 31.

The timer 59 when set in operation acts to terminate operation of the timer 46, and after running for a few seconds acts to reengage the motor 26 to drive the rollers 27 to 29 in the forward sense so that the card is driven from within the cassette 17 into a bin 61 at the rear of the card-reception unit; the card in the bin 61 can be retrieved by bank officials only, and not by the customer. At this time the timer 59 also energizes the electromagnetically operated hammer 58 to make an imprint on the paper tape 37 signifying that the dispenser has not been operated. In addition the timer 59 acts to illuminate the sign NO DEBIT concurrently with another sign on the faciu l0 signifying CARD RETAINED. At the end of the full period of the timer 59, these two signs are extinguished and a signal is passed to switch OFF the unit 23 so that energization of the motor 26 ceases, the whole terminal equipment being now reset in readiness for presentation of another card to the mouth 11.

Provision is made at the computer center for giving warning of interference with, or malfunction of, the terminal equipment. In particular a signal is passed from the unit 52 to a warning device 62 at the computer center in the event that after an approval signal has been transmitted from the unit 54 no return signal is received from the dispenser 21 to indicate that dispensing has taken place. In addition the dispenser 21 transmits a similar signal to the device 62 in the event that there is attack on, or other interference with, the equipment (in particular the dispenser 21) at the terminal. Provision may also be made for warning to be given in the event that the unit 52 detects that repeated attempts are being made with the same card to achieve operation of the dispenser 21 using experimental personal identification numbers; a signal may in these circumstances be transmitted to the timer 59 so that the card is then retained. Generally speaking there is continuous transmission of a signal level from the terminal to the computer center such that any failure in power supply at the terminal, or communication with the center, will be detected immediately.

The security of the system as regards the dispensing of packets of banknotes is dependent upon the security of the approval signal and the recognition of this at the tenninal.

The apparatus provided, both at the terminal and at the center, to achieve the encyphering and recognition of the approval signal involves a multistage shift register used as a chain code generator. H08. 4 and 5 illustrate the manner in which a shift register 65, having in this case three bistable stages only, may be used in this respect to provide a respective chain code that varies according to the feedback connections made. In the case of the arrangement shown in FIG. 4 the outputs of the second and third stages, ll and II], are added together (without carry) in a half-adder 66 to provide the feedback, whereas in the case of the arrangement shown in H6. 5 it is the outputs of the first and third stages, I and Ill, that are added. The digit 0 or l fed back is in each case entered in the first stage of the register during the next pulse of the shift pulse sequence on lead 67, the code sequences achieved in the two cases, starting from the condition in which each stage I, ll and III is in the l state, are:

In each case the register 65 is returned after seven shifts to its starting condition and so repeats the sequence recurrently. The condition of the register 65 at any particular time during operation depends upon three factors, namely, the feedback configuration, the number of shift pulses since commencement of operation, and the particular condition that existed at commencement. It is on the basis of these three factors that encyphering of the approval signal takes place, this signal being generated in both the unit 55 and the unit 54 at the ter minal and computer center respectively, from the cypher derived by the unit 55. The units 55 and 54 are of substantially the same construction as one another, the only significant difference lying in the fact that the unit 55 includes comparator and cypher-generating means not provided in the unit 54. The construction ofthe unit 55 is shown in FIG. 6.

Referring to FIG. 6, the cypher-generating means included in the unit 55 comprises a random number generator 70 that generates a random sequence of l6-digit binary numbers, and a selection unit 71 that is operative to select and store temporarily whichever number is being generated at the time when entry of the personal identification number into the store 43 is completed; it is the number selected by the unit 71 that is transmitted from the unit 55 to the computer center as the l6-digit binary cypher. The comparator means in the unit 55, on the other hand, is a comparator 72 that is operative to compare the approval signal received from the computer center, with a representation of a 16-digit binary number generated within the unit 55 using the cypher in conjunction with a l6-stage shift register 73.

Each stage of the shift register 73 is connected via an individual gate 74 to a binary adder 75. The adder 75 supplies feedback to the shift register 73 in accordance with the least significant binary digit of the sum accumulated, so in this way there is generated through successive shifts of the register 73, a chin code dependent upon which of the gates 74 is open and which closed. The 16 gates 74 are controlled individually by a feedback-programming unit 76 in accordance with the values, 0" or l," of the 16 binary digits of the random number selected by the unit 71. Each individual gate 74 is controlled to be open or closed in dependence upon the value of a respective one of the 16 digits, the particular one being dependent upon the particular system of jumpering, that is to say cross-connection, effected by means of a program card (not shown) inserted in the unit 76. This program card and the random number generated, accordingly determine in conjunction with one another the particular feedback-configuration used; the same feedback-configuration is achieved in the unit 54 at the computer center by using a duplicate of the program card in the feedback-programming unit 76 there, and effecting the operation of the associated feedback gates 74 in accordance with the transmitted cypher.

A cycle program unit 77 is responsive to the number of shifts executed by the shift register 73 after the selection of a random number by the unit 71 and the consequent setting of the gates 74. After a programmed number of these shifts (for example, 16) the unit 77 responds to store the l6-digit binary number then held by the register 73. It is with this number that comparison of the approval signal received from the computer center takes place in the comparator 72. The approval' signal is in fact derived at the computers center from the cycle program unit 77 of the encyphering unit 54, there being duplication at this cycle program unit of the program used at the unit 77 in order that the same number of shifts are executed by the shift register 73 there, before response of the cycle program unit. The l6-digit number selected and stored by this latter unit provides the encyphered approval signal transmitted from the center after the various checks carried out by the units 50 and 52 are satisfied, and this signal is recognized by the encyphering unit 55 at the money-dispensing terminal only if the comparison effected by the comparator 72 reveals equality of this number with the number selected and stored by the unit 77. It is only in the event of such equality that the approval signal can give rise to the dispense signal supplied at the terminal to the gating unit 56.

The approval number is derived at the computer center from the same cypher number as the comparison number selected and stored by the unit 77, using the same feedbaclb and cycle programs, and accordingly there can be equality between the two numbers only if the shift registers at the terminal and center both start with the same setting. The initial setting of the shift register 73 at the terminal is effected by an entry program unit 78 that enters a l6-digit binary number into the register initially upon each operation of the selection unit 71. The unit 78 and the corresponding entry program unit at the computer center, may be arranged to enter the same programmed number into their respective registers for each transaction, but it is preferred instead to make the entered number dependent upon the account number of the particular card used for the transaction. The account number as read from the imprint of the card by the photoelectric reader 42 and stored in the store 43 at the terminal, is accordingly conveyed to the unit 78 for use there in deriving the number to be entered. At the center the corresponding entry program unit, working to the same program as the unit 78, derives the same l6-digit binary number (for entry in its associated register) from the account number as transmitted from the store 43 to the unit 52.

With the form of customers card described above with reference to FIG. 1, the pulse recordings carried by the highcoercivity magnetic oxide of the coating 2 are masked by noise recorded in the low-coercivity magnetic oxide. Although the use of magnetic masking in this way provides an element of security it is certainly not an essential. In this latter respect, the coating 2 of the customer's card may consist of high-coercivity magnetic oxide alone, the pulse recordings being recorded in this material and being read by the head 31 in checking the authenticity of the card, as before. Although no masking is used in these circumstances, the magnetic recording head 30 is preferably retained and energized with alternating current as before, since this ensures that a card cannot satisfy the authenticity check unless it carries magnetic material of sufficiently high coercivity. This applies whether or not the magnetic material on the card carries pulse recordings that would otherwise satisfy the check, since the action of the head 30 is to erase any recorded signal from material having a coercivity less than the predetermined, high value.

I claim:

1. Access-control equipment for selectively enabling access to a facility in response to a request made by a person presenting an information-bean token to said equipment, comprising first means foirecei n g within the equipment the information-bearing token presented thereto, second means for providing from the received token a discrete record of information borne thereby, said second means comprising elements of a data-recording medium, and a recorder for recording said information borne by the received token on one of said elements, third means for reading from said one element part at least of the information recorded thereon by said recorder, and fourth means operable in dependence upon the information read from said record to enable said person access to said facility whereby access to said facility is conditional upon the making of a readable record of said token information, and wherein said second means includes means operative to present successive ones of said elements to said recorder in respect of successive requests for access so that the record-retaining elements provide a logging of the tokenborne data in respect of those individual requests for access.

2. Access-control equipment according to claim 1 wherein said record is a printed record.

3. Access-control equipment according to claim 1 wherein said recorder is means to provide said record as a transfer by impression from embossin s ed token.

4. Access-control equipment according to claim 3 wherein said third means is a photoelectric reader arrangement for deriving electric signals in accordance with the said impression-record, and said fourth means includes means for supplying an electric control signal selectively in dependence upon the signals derived by said photoelectric reader arrangement, and means responsive to the supply of said control signal to enable access to said facility.

5. Access-control equipment according to claim 1 wherein said recorder includes inking means to provide said record as an inked impression of embossings borne by the received token.

6. Access-control equipment according to claim 5 including means for storing in bulk record material capable of receiving and retaining inked impressions, and feed means responsive to each occasion on which said first means receives an information-bearing token for feeding a discrete element of the stored record material through said second means to receive the said inked impression of the received token, said feed means feeding successive elements of the stored record material through 4 said second means on successive occasions of token-reception so as to provide discrete records in respect of those occasions.

7. Access-control equipment according to claim 6 wherein said record material is paper tape.

8. Access-control equipment according to claim 6 wherein said second means includes means for feeding an inked ribbon to pass between the received token and the element of record material fed to said second means, and means for pressing the token and element one upon the other with the inked ribbon therebetween, to effect the said inked impression.

9. Access-control equipment according to claim 1 in com- 'bination with an item-dispenser for dispensing items in response to each operation of said fourth means.

10. An item-dispensing system for dispensing items in response only to the concurrence of a number of conditions one of which is the prior making of a readable logging record of information appearing on an information-bearing token, comprising item-dispensing means that is selectively operable to dispense from a reserve of items at least one such item upon each operation of the item-dispensing means, entry means for receiving an information-bearing token presented to the system as part of a request for operation of said itemdispensing means, recording means for providing from the received token a record of information borne thereby, said recording means comprising elements of a data-recording medium, and a recorder for recording said information on one of said elements to thereby log said information, record-reading means, operative in response to the making of a readable log-record of said information, for reading from said one element at least part of the recorded information, manually of said items as aforesaid in dependence upon whether a predetermined correspondence exists between the compared numbers, said record-reading means including means to present successive ones of said elements to said recorder in respect of successive requests for operation of said itemdispensing means so that the record-retaining elements provide account logging of information in respect of the successive requests.

ll. An item-dispensing system according to claim 10 wherein said recorder is means to provide a printed record of information borne by the received token.

12. An item-dispensing system according to claim 10 wherein said recorder is means to provide said record as a transfer to' said one element by impression from embossings of the received token.

13. An item-dispensing system comprising two spaced stations and a data link interconnecting them, a first of the two stations including means for receiving an information-bearing token presented to the system, recording means for providing from the received token a record of information borne thereby, record-reading means for reading from said record a part at least of the recorded information, means for entering a number into the system, means for transmitting to said second station via said data link the entered number and information read from said record, and item-dispensing means that is selectively operable to dispense from a reserve of items at least one such item upon each operation of the itemdispensing means, and said second station including comparison means responsive to the said number and information transmitted from the first station via the data link to detect whether there is a predetermined correspondence between them, encyphering means for executing a predetermined program to derive a plural-digit number in response to the transmission of said information via the data link, and means for transmitting said plural-digit number to said first station via said data link, so as to provide a signal signifying approval of operation of the item-dispensing means, only in the event that said comparison means detects said predetermined correspondence, and wherein said first station also includes encyphering means for executing said predetermined program to derive separately the same plural-digit number as the encyphering means at said second station, and means for enabling operation of the item-dispensing means only in the event of equality between this number and the number transmitted from the second station to signify approval of such operation.

14. In equipment for use in control of a credit operation and which comprises card-receiving means to receive an information-bearing credit card, recording means to provide a hardcopy record of information borne by the credit card for accounting purposes, reading means to provide a read out of at least part of said card-borne information, and credit authorization means operable to signify authorization of said credit operation in dependence upon the card-borne information read out by said reading means; the improvement wherein said reading means comprises means for providing said read out from the hard-copy record provided by said recording means whereby authorization of said credit operation is conditional upon the making of a readable hard-copy account record of said card-borne information.

a n a a a: 

1. Access-control equipment for selectively enabling access to a facility in response to a request made by a person presenting an information-bearing token to said equipment, comprising first means for receiving within the equipment the information-bearing token presented thereto, second means for providing from the received token a discrete record of information borne thereby, said second means comprising elements of a data-recording medium, and a recorder for recording said information borne by the received token on one of said elements, third means for reading from said one element part at least of the information recorded thereon by said recorder, and fourth means operable in dependence upon the information read from said record to enable said person access to said facility whereby access to said facility is conditional upon the making of a readable record of said token information, and wherein said second means includes means operative to present successive ones of said elements to said recorder in respect of successive requests for access so that the record-retaining elements provide a logging of the token-borne data in respect of those individual requests for access.
 2. Access-control equipment according to claim 1 wherein said record is a printed record.
 3. Access-control equipment according to claim 1 wherein said recorder is means to provide said record as a transfer by impression from embossings of the received token.
 4. Access-control equipment according to claim 3 wherein said third means is a photoelectric reader arrangement for deriving electric signals in accordance with the said impression-record, and said fourth means includes means for supplying an electric control signal selectively in dependence upon the signals derived by said photoelectric reader arrangement, and means responsive to the supply of said control signal to enable access to said facility.
 5. Access-control equipment according to claim 1 wherein said recorder includes inking means to provide said record as an inked impression of embossings borne by the received token.
 6. Access-control equipment according to claim 5 including means for storing in bulk record material capable of receiving and retaining inked impressions, and feed means responsive to each occasion on which said first means receives an information-bearing token for feeding a discrete element of the stored record material through said second means to receive the said inked impression of the received token, said feed means feeding successive elements of the stored record material through said second means on successive occasions of token-reception so as to provide discrete records in respect of those occasions.
 7. Access-control equipment according to claim 6 wherein said record material is paper tape.
 8. Access-control equipment according to claim 6 wherein said second meAns includes means for feeding an inked ribbon to pass between the received token and the element of record material fed to said second means, and means for pressing the token and element one upon the other with the inked ribbon therebetween, to effect the said inked impression.
 9. Access-control equipment according to claim 1 in combination with an item-dispenser for dispensing items in response to each operation of said fourth means.
 10. An item-dispensing system for dispensing items in response only to the concurrence of a number of conditions one of which is the prior making of a readable logging record of information appearing on an information-bearing token, comprising item-dispensing means that is selectively operable to dispense from a reserve of items at least one such item upon each operation of the item-dispensing means, entry means for receiving an information-bearing token presented to the system as part of a request for operation of said item-dispensing means, recording means for providing from the received token a record of information borne thereby, said recording means comprising elements of a data-recording medium, and a recorder for recording said information on one of said elements to thereby log said information, record-reading means, operative in response to the making of a readable log-record of said information, for reading from said one element at least part of the recorded information, manually operable means for entering a number into the system as a further part of said request, the particular number entered being dependent upon manual selection, and comparison means for comparing a number dependent upon the information read from said one element with the number entered into the system, said comparison means including means for operating said item-dispensing means to dispense at least one of said items as aforesaid in dependence upon whether a predetermined correspondence exists between the compared numbers, said record-reading means including means to present successive ones of said elements to said recorder in respect of successive requests for operation of said item-dispensing means so that the record-retaining elements provide account logging of information in respect of the successive requests.
 11. An item-dispensing system according to claim 10 wherein said recorder is means to provide a printed record of information borne by the received token.
 12. An item-dispensing system according to claim 10 wherein said recorder is means to provide said record as a transfer to said one element by impression from embossings of the received token.
 13. An item-dispensing system comprising two spaced stations and a data link interconnecting them, a first of the two stations including means for receiving an information-bearing token presented to the system, recording means for providing from the received token a record of information borne thereby, record-reading means for reading from said record a part at least of the recorded information, means for entering a number into the system, means for transmitting to said second station via said data link the entered number and information read from said record, and item-dispensing means that is selectively operable to dispense from a reserve of items at least one such item upon each operation of the item-dispensing means, and said second station including comparison means responsive to the said number and information transmitted from the first station via the data link to detect whether there is a predetermined correspondence between them, encyphering means for executing a predetermined program to derive a plural-digit number in response to the transmission of said information via the data link, and means for transmitting said plural-digit number to said first station via said data link, so as to provide a signal signifying approval of operation of the item-dispensing means, only in the event that said comparison means detects said predetermined correspondence, and wherein said first statioN also includes encyphering means for executing said predetermined program to derive separately the same plural-digit number as the encyphering means at said second station, and means for enabling operation of the item-dispensing means only in the event of equality between this number and the number transmitted from the second station to signify approval of such operation.
 14. In equipment for use in control of a credit operation and which comprises card-receiving means to receive an information-bearing credit card, recording means to provide a hard-copy record of information borne by the credit card for accounting purposes, reading means to provide a read out of at least part of said card-borne information, and credit authorization means operable to signify authorization of said credit operation in dependence upon the card-borne information read out by said reading means; the improvement wherein said reading means comprises means for providing said read out from the hard-copy record provided by said recording means whereby authorization of said credit operation is conditional upon the making of a readable hard-copy account record of said card-borne information. 